


California Dreaming

by Adira_Tyree



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Ambiguity, Drabble, F/F, F/M, Fluff, NCR, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 15:46:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4570212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adira_Tyree/pseuds/Adira_Tyree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ella didn't have anything to leave behind when she signed up for boot camp. Now she might. [drabble]</p>
            </blockquote>





	California Dreaming

       Ella looked up at the stars, her hands behind her head as a pillow, almost able to forget the way the stone jabbed into her back. It was just quiet enough that she could hear the sound of her own breathing, but couldn’t quite say for sure if she could hear Riley’s beside her. They hadn’t spoken for an hour. Neither quite knew what to say.

       In the morning, which she knew was now only a few precious hours away, she would be leaving for the Mojave. It was even where she had requested to be shipped out to, right at the start of boot-camp. _“I’m perfect for it,”_ she’d argued with her superior officer. _“I don’t have any family left here to miss me if I don’t make it back, but I’m not going to just lay down and let them kill me either.”_ Not that anyone had any illusions about the fact that a Legion man was more than likely going to do anything but kill her, if he could.

       Only, now she _did_ have someone who would miss her, and someone whom she herself would miss. Love had never been something she’d thought about much. NCR Boot Camp, of all places, hadn’t been where she’d ever expected to wonder if she’d found it. Now that Ella was heading for the front lines, and Riley was heading for the cushy life of a political bodyguard back in Shady Sands, she realized she would miss their conversations.

       “Just like you to head back home,” Ella said, no malice in her voice. “You’re too good for them to waste you on the front anyway.”

       Riley waved a hand in the air like it didn’t really matter. “I didn’t ask for it.”

       “I know you didn’t,” Ella laughed. “They saw that big grin of yours and your bright, positive attitude, and knew you were perfect for some senator or his wife. Probably figured you’d be just the one to cheer them right up.”

       Riley quirked an eyebrow at her. If there was one thing Riley wasn’t noted for, it was a cheery, positive attitude and a grin.

       Seeing the expression, Ella couldn’t help but laugh harder, pulling her arms to her chest as she cackled. Her ribs ached and her eyes watered enough to make the stars blur. It struck her suddenly that the only times she ever laughed like this anymore were when she was with Riley.

       “I’m sorry,” she said, calming down, though giggles still escaped her mouth in tiny spurts. “I shouldn’t laugh. You’ve got a great career ahead of you, and I’m happy for you. I’m just pissed at myself for thinking that just because I don’t have anyone or anything back home now meant I never would.”

       “Don’t you?” Riley asked, turning to face her. The unblinking gaze that held hers only hinted at any emotion – slight enough that Ella wasn’t quite sure what it was.

       She sighed, rolling onto her side and propping her head up on her arm. “I don’t really know. But I think I’d like to. I’m just afraid that I won’t come back to them. That I won’t be able to.”

       Without missing a beat, Riley looked away, back up to the stars above them. “I’m sure they’d want you to.”

       Ella grinned, resisting the urge to yawn even though her eyelids kept drifting closer together. “You think so?”

       Riley nodded once, a quick, swift movement. “Sure of it.”

       “Maybe I’ll try then. Blast holes in a few Legion fuckheads and take the first ticket home I can get my hands on. Get reassigned, if I can. Not that you can really get taken off the front without a lot of favors or a pine box.” She frowned, wrinkling her nose and staring at the dirt. “I suppose they’re probably out of pine by now. I’d have to settle for an empty box of Sugar Bombs or something.”

       A huffed laugh beside her drew Ella back out of the macabre thought. “Did you just laugh? Did Riley the Disinterested, the Sullen, the Damn-Near Silent just laugh?”

       “Almost.”

       Ella shook her head, and, to hell with it all, scooted over to lay her head on Riley’s stomach. She closed her eyes, grinning when she felt Riley’s hand lazily stroke her arm.

       “Shady Sands, first chance you get. You’ll always have a place to stay there.”

       Ella grinned. She was sure, for once, that the stars were still shining above her, so she let her tired eyes stay closed this time. “First chance I get.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted the gender of Riley to be unmentioned. That was really the goal here, to build a romance where the gender of the partner was just not something anyone, including the main character, was thinking about. Male? Female? Trans? Genderfluid? Something else entirely? Is Ella straight? Gay? Bi? Pan? Ace? I know what I think, but it's up to you how you want to interpret it. Comment with your Riley headcanons below! I want to know what you all think. =]


End file.
